Thursday, January 16, 2014

Since I decided about three weeks ago to change up my
training, my running has been going very well.I am enjoying it and I have released the pressure I was
feeling about not meeting certain objectives.I still have said objectives, like mileage per week, mileage
per month, pace, and time, but I am not letting those objectives control my
outlook on running.Last week I
set a goal of 53 miles, but wasn’t able to meet that goal because of weather
conditions one day and other needs arising another day.I ended up short by about 15
miles.I set the same goal for
this week.So far, I am right on
track and plan on staying on track, but only time and life will tell if I am
able to hit that goal.If I do,
fantastic!If not, I refuse to
stress about it and lose sleep over it.As long as I am doing everything over which I have control to meet my
goals, then I have no reason to not be satisfied with my effort.If, however, I find myself making
excuses that interfere with my forward progress, then that is an entirely
different story.Then it will be
important to examine the motivation behind those excuses.Until anything like that becomes
apparent, I am quite satisfied with my progress and I will continue working
towards my goals until I reach them.At that point, I will implement more goals to hold myself accountable
for forward progression.

I have, over the past week, started utilizing pace in my training, again.Because I am more
interested in time spent moving instead of distance moved, I have an average
pace set up for different lengths of time.The shorter the time moving, the faster I am keeping the
pace so I am still pushing myself, though I am not rigidly holding to a set pace; more, an average
pace.My motivation at this point
is to be outside, moving, as much as possible and to enjoy it while I am doing
it.If I’m not enjoying it, then
there is no point.It becomes a
hindrance instead of a joy and that is not worth it to me.

It’s refreshing to have the pleasure back and it is
enlivening to not be holding myself to such rigid standards in my running.Goals and objectives are great and they
help keep people on track when going for something specific, but when I allowed
my goals and objectives to take over the big picture, that picture became
muddy.It was filled with
drudgery.It held a centralized
focus aimed solely at the end destination.Now, the picture is bright and crisp, yet soft in focus as I
explore and experience the journey.I am in the process of researching and writing a post which analyzes how we use our physical sight and our mental vision, how each one has a soft and a hard focus (and how the soft and hard focus work together), how the focus of both can become oriented more towards the hard than the soft, and how the physical and mental vision work in tandem. It goes into much more detail than I cover here and will be posted
soon.In the meantime, here are some
questions for discussion.

Where is your focus in
your training and in life?Do you
sometimes become so focused on one area that you lose sight of other
areas?What do you do to soften
your focus and bring it back to the journey?Do you ever struggle with softening your focus?

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Two runs, so far, this week.Both based solely on total time.Both runs, I was pleasantly surprised at the distance and
the pace.Both runs felt great.It was good to just get out there and
run for the love of running, to enjoy my surroundings without any pressure to
hit any other target than the amount of time I was out there.Even that was no pressure because I set
a range, rather than a specific time, and finished up when I was ready to
finish.Monday, I went for just
under an hour.Wednesday, I went
for just over an hour and a half.Today, well, we’ll see.It’s supposed to be a miserably cold, windy, and rainy day out there.It’s a good thing I have my Marmot rain
jacket and plenty of layers in which to dress.

My thought is to go for anywhere from two to three hours to
start rebuilding my endurance. Pace
is not a factor, right now. Time
spent running and walking is. This
is my focus. This, and enjoying
the movement, the feel of the road and the trail under my feet, the sweat
running from the effort involved, the wind reddening my cheeks and nose, the
air filling my lungs, then releasing back into the atmosphere. I live
for this, for these times. I love
this. I am excited about today’s
run. I hope you are looking
forward to what your day holds for you, as well.

About Me

My name is Shannon. I am an athlete, in the making. I have never been an athlete before. I was always the kid who was the slowest runner, the one who hated to play tag because I was always "it." I never even learned to ride a bicycle until late 2012, at the age of 38. I lacked good hand-eye coordination and attempted to avoid sports of any kind. Though I liked to PLAY sports, I hesitated to engage because I was terrible and believed I couldn't get any better. That belief is now changing. I know with practice and perseverance, I can become the athlete I never was. This is my story. This is my journey.